Sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) verbal agreements are in place for the fight, though UFC officials haven’t made a formal announcement.

UFC 157 takes place Feb. 23 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Faber vs. Menjivar likely will be part of the PPV main card.

The fighters first met in 2006 at a TKO event in Canada, where Menjivar was disqualified for an illegal upkick. Both fighters later signed with the WEC.

Faber, the WEC’s longtime featherweight champion, is stuck in a 1-2 skid following UFC title losses to bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao (for an interim belt). A submission win over Brian Bowles separates the two losses for “The California Kid.”

Faber now meets Menjivar, a fast-rising contender who’s 4-1 in the UFC with his lone loss coming to fellow contender Mike Easton. However, the Canadian-Salvadoran member of Tristar Gym recently rebounded from that loss with a submission victory over Azamat Gashimov at UFC 154, which earned him a “Submission of the Night” bonus (his second in three fights).

Tatate.com originally announced the Faber vs. Menjivar matchup, though MMAWeekly.com later clarified it’ll take place at UFC 157, not UFC 156.

The Latest

In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes look at Ronda Rousey’s 34-second victory over Bethe Correia at UFC 190 and try to put it into terms that capture the moment without getting swept away by it.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?